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A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear (p. 177). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) You know, don’t you that fear sells? Max says, “Fear glues watchers to their seats, sells magazines off the racks, and puts money in the pockets of the system. Newscasts have learned to rely on a glossary of trouble-stirring phrases to keep our attention: ‘Coming up, the frightening truth about sitting in traffic.’ ‘How chocolate affects your I.Q.’ ‘What you can do to avoid the danger.’ ‘What you may not know about the water you drink.’” Later Max says, “Let’s be among those who stay calm. Let’s recognize danger but not be overwhelmed. Acknowledge threats but refuse to be defined by them. Let others breathe the polluted air of anxiety, not us. Let’s be numbered among those who hear a different voice, God’s. Enough of these shouts of despair, wails of doom. Why pay heed to the doomsdayer on Wall Stre…

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear(p. 159). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That thought has no meaning if you don’t have a relationship with and you don’t believe in God but I do so it has deep meaning to me.I want to believe that God has His hand on what is happening in this world.That he has a purpose on what is also happening in my world. Max says, “When the world appears out of control, it isn’t. When warmongers appear to be in charge, they aren’t. When ecological catastrophes dominate the day, don’t let them dominate you.” He goes on, “Let’s trust our heavenly Father in the manner Peter Wirth trusted his earthly one. “Peter was a twenty-one-year-old university student when he began to experience severe pain in his right shoulder. He called his father for advice. Most students would do the same: call home for counsel. But few students have a better parent to call in suc…

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear(p. 157). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Here is a good word for the last day of February 2017.Here is a good word for those who are fearful of what is happening in our world today.Here is a very good word of challenge and encouragement. Max says, “Yes, life stinks. But it won’t forever. As one of my friends likes to say, ‘Everything will work out in the end. If it’s not working out, it’s not the end.’” Max goes on, “Though the church is winnowed down like Gideon’s army, though God’s earth is buffeted by climate changes and bloodied by misfortune, though creation itself seems stranded on the Arctic seas, don’t overreact. ‘Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes’ (Ps. 37: 7 NLT).” He continues, “Avoid Pollyanna optimism. We gain nothi…

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear(p. 144). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is what happens so many times when we are going through bad times, times that maybe cause us to doubt what we believe.We quit going to church, we stay away from those Christian people, we go into hiding. Now there are times that we need to get away to collect our thoughts and to calm our emotions but there is also danger in staying there, there is danger in hiding. Max says, “Questions can make hermits out of us, driving us into hiding. Yet the cave has no answers. Christ distributes courage through community; he dissipates doubts through fellowship. He never deposits all knowledge in one person but distributes pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to many. When you interlock your understanding with mine, and we share our discoveries . . . When we mix, mingle, confess, and pray, Christ speaks.” Over in Luk…

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-02-06) from his book, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear(p. 131). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Maybe this is what you needed to hear today so stay with me. Max says, “God treats you the way one mother treated her young son, Timmy. She didn’t like the thought of Timmy walking to his first-grade class unaccompanied. But he was too grown-up to be seen with his mother. ‘Besides,’ he explained, ‘I can walk with a friend.’ So, she did her best to stay calm, quoting the Twenty-third Psalm to him every morning: ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life ...’ “One day she came up with an idea. She asked a neighbor to follow Timmy to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, lest he notice her. The neighbor was happy to oblige. She took her toddler on morning walks anyway. After several days, Timmy’s little friend noticed the lady and the child. ‘Do you know who that woman i…